Clarksburg Mayor Cathy Goings expects the old Robinson Grand Theater, now the Robinson Grand Performing Arts Center, will open on schedule in Spring 2018.

“It’s very exciting,” she said on Friday’s edition of “The Gary Bowden Show” on the AJR News Network. Bowden is also a member of the Clarksburg city council.

“We’ve been working behind the scenes all along to get to this point, and now we’ll be able to see the fruits of our labor.”

Clarksburg City Council agreed to a grant and lease agreement with the Clarksburg Development Authority at their last City Council meeting, which brings the project another step closer to beginning construction.

“It’s not just a theater,” Goings said. “It’s a performing arts center. We had to take into account what their needs would be and implement that into the design of the performing arts center.”

Although the expected opening is just over one year away, Goings expects an initial “soft” opening.

“We would get our local performances in there, and they can do plays or recitals or music events,” she said. “Then to work through that throughout the summer, and then do a big grand opening with a major headliner in Fall of 2018.”